The present invention relates to bale wagons and an improved bale alignment device for use therewith.
Over the past years, the three-table bale wagon, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,127 to G. E. Grey, an improved version of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,507 to J. A. Olsen and L. D. Butler, has become by far the most successful commercial bale wagon. The Grey bale wagon includes three tandemly arranged tables, each pivotally mounted about a transverse axis relative to the longitudinal center line of the wagon. Bales of hay are picked up from the field and conveyed onto a first table which arranges them end to end in a row and pivots upwardly about its transverse axis to deposit the bale rows on a rearwardly disposed second table. The first table continues to receive bales and to deposit the bales received on the second table until a tier of bales has been accumulated on the second table. Once a full tier of bales consisting of a plurality of rows has been accumulated on the second table, the second table is pivoted upwardly about its transverse axis, causing the tier of bales to be deposited on a rearwardly disposed third table or load bed. The second table continues to function as a bale tier former, and continues to deposit the tiers formed thereon in succession on the third table until a stack of bales is formed thereon, the stack being comprised, of course, of a series of side by side tiers. Once the stack has been formed on the third table, the bale wagon can then deposit the entire stack on the ground or on some other storage surface by pivoting the third table about a transverse axis, allowing the stack to be disposed in a generally upright manner on the ground or in a storage area.
Stacking has become a very important function of a bale wagon. To a significant degree, the overall performance of a bale wagon and specifically the quality of the stack and its ability to stand over long periods of time and to be retrieved readily depends on the bales being of uniform shape and having relatively constant dimensions. In this regard, the three table Grey type bale wagon includes a trip lever adjacent one end of the first table opposite the pickup. The purpose of the trip lever is to actuate the first table when the outermost end of the first bale received engages the trip lever, causing the first table to pivot upwardly depositing the bales thereon on the front portion of the second table. Because of this all of the bales along the trip side of the bale wagon are in very good alignment. But should the bale wagon pick up some short bales of less length than the standard length, and these bales are placed on the first table as far toward the first table trip arm as possible, it follows that the first table cycles without regard to the alignment of the bales on the loading side of the bale wagon. The net result is that the side of the stack opposite the trip arm side becomes very jagged and is not properly aligned.
Short bales pose an additional problem with regard to the tier forming capability of the second table. In order to enhance the stability of the stack, it is generally desirable to provide one or more tie tiers within the stack, such being tiers having individual bales arranged to overlap two bales in adjacent tiers above and below the tie tier, an effect achieved by rotating selected bales 90.degree. after they are loaded on the second table. The rotation is achieved by engaging bales disposed along the forward end of the second table with spikes towards their outside ends thus pinning each bale toward one end while subsequent bales are added toward the center of the second table. The unpinned ends of the bales are forced backward along the table while the bales rotate about their respective spikes. This operation would be handicapped by short bales which, being placed on the first table as far toward the trip side as possible, could result in the bale on the loading side missing the tie forming spike after being transferred on the second table.
It will be appreciated that as long as all of the bales are of constant length these problems do not present themselves.
The problem of short and long bales has continued to exist with hay balers for some time, although there has been substantial work done in the area of making a bale with precise dimensions each and every time a bale is baled in the hay baler. But because of so many variables and the general biological nature of crop material with the fact that any mechanism devised must not be overly complex or expensive, it appears that there will not soon be a solution to the problem of making bales of uniform length.
One solution to the problem of dealing with non-uniform bale length was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,684 to G. R. Butler and G. L. Sipe, which discloses bale relocater mechanisms for use with the first and second tables of the three table Grey bale wagon. These relocater mechanisms act to move the last bale of each bale row back toward the loading side of the wagon against a fixed fence which serves to align the bales. The relocater mechanism for the first table is activated every time the first table pivots upwardly and imparts an equal lateral motion to each bale it engages. The lateral distance traveled by each bale back toward the loading side of the wagon is determined by the length and position of each bale which affects whether that bale will travel a greater or less distance before contacting the fixed fence.